Ethereum Finishes First in Chinese IT Ministry Crypto Rankings Report

China Releases Its First Cryptocurrency Rankings, Ethereum Placed First While Bitcoin Loses Out

China Electronic Information Industry Development Department (CCID) published its first-ever crypto ratings index today, which ranked 28 different cryptocurrencies. This was done in an effort to improve independent blockchain ratings by the Chinese government.

According to the index scoring, which is broken out by technology, application, and innovation, Ethereum is currently the top cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin is ranked 13. The bitcoin community was outraged by the low ranking of Bitcoin considering that bitcoin has the longest track record as the most secure and dominant cryptocurrency in the global market. Interestingly, several popular blockchain projects, like Tron (TRX), are absent from the list.

This effort by the Chinese government is a bit absurd. China’s government has made it clear that it’s no fan of cryptocurrency because of the financial instability that comes with it, but it has welcomed the development of the underlying blockchain technology.

Regarding this development, Eric Zhao, a Shanghai-based engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who operates the widely followed CNLedger Twitter account said:

“most old-school experts haven’t followed the crypto space long enough to grasp some of the traits of [the] tech and community that can’t be found elsewhere. I believe at least it’s a sign that the officials are starting to treat crypto projects more like a neutral endeavor towards better technology and innovations, rather than just challenging the power and authority of banks and government.”

The list was criticized by many analysts who said that the Chinese government has overlooked the long track record, hashrate, computing power, and accumulated difficulty of major blockchain networks like bitcoin and prioritized next-generation blockchain networks instead.

Criticisms aside, just this effort by the Chinese government is huge. The authorities through their list have acknowledged that the Chinese officials do not highly regard native projects, indicating that the country lags behind in the area of blockchain technology. The monthly issuance of this index will help the Chinese authorities to better understand the revolutionary technology while tracking the progress of various projects simultaneously.